Interview there’s relationships between things, companies, I would be alarmed because I everything. But you only get that local then there’s the schematics that control don’t want that to be our hallmark. copy by connecting to some service somewhy something is the way it is, and There are lots and lots of users for where that has the main branch and you there’s lots and lots of properties that whom digital twins can be a huge benefit. synchronise your changes. It’s the way don’t show up in a visual view. Then of It doesn’t have to be the size of a city or programmers have worked for years, so course there’s the 4D dimension, if you’re large firms. Think of water companies; I’m 100% sure it’s got to be right because talking about a digital twin of something, are those big enterprises? I don’t think so. with our projects, it’s very distributed. you’re going to engineer it in phases, it’s Our go-to-market plan has evolved We always have lots of branches; nothing going to change due to external influenc- substantially from the beginning when is linear in software development. es over time etc. we were just trying to make it. Nobody I think engineering design and digital A static digital twin is an oxymoron. had ever heard of it before, and no one twin design will follow that model, quite There’s no such thing. You must always could understand the reasons behind it! nicely. But it’s definitely going to take a consider time and all the formats that So, we had to explain it in great detail. different generation of applications from exist today, except for possibly one (I Nowadays you can get started with our the ones that exist today. think you know which one - Bentley’s iTwin products without spending a lot of In my opinion, what I tell people, is the iTwin.js) haven’t been designed to antici- intellectual horsepower understanding iTwin platform isn’t just a consumer of pate that there’s change over time. how it all works. I think it’s the greatest BIM data created externally, it is a generThere’s a federation of data sources, as opportunity we’ve ever had to try to ator of information. Long-term, I talked not everything always goes in the same make our solutions more consumable in to users in our roadway design world and location. A digital twin is not a BIM smaller bites. their projects are today all conceived model. A digital twin is lots of other around the workflows of drawings. data streams, connected, such as IoT AEC Magazine: It’s not even straightContracts are issued based on the numsensors etc. forward to take a BIM model and ber of drawings; litigation is always You don’t put that ‘in a file’. A digital repurpose it for a digital twin. BIM around. How did the actual construction twin is an eclectic mix of lots of data models are not really being developed differ from the design? And the answer to sources. There are two things that are in a way for them to be taken forward that question is always ‘what does it say really, really important. One is you need in a process, they are an end in them- on the drawings?’. And I think there’s a to have a way to take a local copy of it so selves, to produce drawings. future where there’s no drawings. you can disconnect and have a The drawings are artefacts. session; the other is that we They come into existence when are going write lots of softthey’re needed. And then There are reasons why the computer ware that pulls data from nobody needs paper, and on your desktop is a better computer everywhere and combines it. nobody needs PDF. The PDF People talk about the future only saves trees. It doesn’t save than the one you rent in the cloud, and of ‘all technology’ and how it’s time. It doesn’t save errors. I say you should have that choice going to be machine learning Once you export into a system and the input to machine as a PDF, you now have the learning is data in some intelliproblem of what’s the vintage of gible format. We are going to need lots of Keith Bentley: I think this plays in to this piece of virtual paper? And that’s data and a platform and a programming what is the future of files. Today we’re where the value is. You can’t query why basis to start from. Nobody wants to start saying your digital twin originates from something was calculated that way, or get from just Java script or JSON. applications that were conceived before all the kinds of information flows that can The evidence from the world today, digital twins were a thing — Revit, happen when you talk about a database from when we first started talking about AutoCAD and MicroStation etc. versus a report from a flat file. this (about four years ago), leads me to Basically, all of our products were develIf you don’t want to call it a digital twin, believe it’s maybe going take a longer oped in an era where files were the thing fine. But it’s something that takes into contimeframe than anybody cares to admit, and the cloud didn’t exist. Basically, the sideration the history of all the existence but it’s going to happen and is happen- applications had a ‘desktop mentality’ what’s there today, why it’s there today, ing. The real-world examples we gave at because that’s all there was. There was no feeding back the traffic flow, do an AI YII were pretty good evidence that the concept that you could either store the study on it. There’s all kinds of workflows theory is right and the uptake is real. data off the desktop, or that you could that should be different than the ones that consume a service that wasn’t an applica- exist today. But I think it probably takes a AEC Magazine: Because of the type of tion installed on your local machine. breaking point for people to decide to do customers Bentley has - multi-nationals, I think the future is applications that this next project a different way. This is governments, owner operators - there is are digital point applications. You were what we’re trying to show people and are concern that digital twins are not for asking about what’s the long-term future already starting on that. firms such as architects etc? of Revit? Well, I don’t know what it’s The day I started doing this, 35 years going to be, but I don’t think it’s going to ago, the drawings were physical pieces of Keith Bentley: Well, you are right. Our be a desktop application only. I think paper, and we always talked about how user base tends to be larger firms and there will be a desktop component of fast you could you issue a new drawing. have larger projects, so that tends to be everything. As I said before, there will be 25 years from now, I don’t see that being our natural first focus, but if I thought we always be a need, that when you discon- the case, there will be no drawings on any were working on something that was nect you have a local copy of what you infrastructure project. only applicable to large projects or large need, but you don’t have a local copy of ■ bentley.com
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24
January / February 2022
www.AECmag.com
